Shatterers
"When Emira tasked us to destroy the Earthfire, we were reluctant but followed the World Walker's command. As we sacrificed our holy fire of creation that burned for over a thousand years, a small flame extinguished in the heart of every Serii. We call our enemies Shatterers. They seek to destroy us both mentally and physically. If we are willing to do so ourselves, what victory is there to be gained?" --'Victus Lucine, Oridel Sedar of the World Walker, ''Collected Accounts of the Great Shattering, 1017 WE.''' Overview The Infamous title of Shatterer is used to describe only the most horrific figures of Ilderon's history. Shatterer is a term that can refer to a god, demi-god, or mortal. Though some Shatterers have worked together, they are not recognized as a singular faction. The common thread between the seven historical Shatterers is that their actions and presence on Ilderon directly contributed towards the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives. Chronologically, the first Shatterer was the demi-god Phianthros, however, the term Shatterer would not be applied to any figure in history until 1000 WE after the god, Gendoi, enacted the First Shattering. Shatterers Phianthros, the Shackled Phianthros was a demi-god worshiped by the Milserii of Seadale that originally inhabited the lands of the Southern Earthfire. Like many gods and demi-gods of the time, Phianthros had been shackled away in the demi-plane known as The Bridge. When the first mage, Cargog Calgarin came to claim the Southern Earthfire, the Milserii clans became desperate. Unable to match the strength of Cargog's arcane magics, the clans underwent a dangerous ritual to free the demi-god from his shackles and set him free in Ilderon. Phianthros proved to be a nearly unstoppable force until the creation of the Earthfire weapon, Torch of Cargog, which eventually lead to the demi-god's defeat. Deldeth, Father of Secrets No one is certain how the Father of Secrets came to reside on Seadale during the early years of the Waking Era. Deldeth traveled to the continent to seize the opportunity created by the Milserii who summoned Phianthros. The Milserii had temporarily broken the goddess Renaltuh's hold over her domain of the Bridge. Deldeth manipulated the broken Milserii clans and the fledgling human nations into a war against the Dorii of Alyan to expand that rift. The growing break in the Bridge remained unseen until Deldeth exploited it years later, pulling souls and creatures from the Bridge and twisting them into his own demons known as dethen. The Dethen wars culminated with the lost of the Northern Earthfire. Calphaer Calgarin, the Dark Mage The god Gendoi constantly experimented with the limits of life magic. In his earliest attempt to twist the magic, Gendoi discovered that after killing Phianthros, Cargog's bloodline had absorbed--albeit slightly--a portion of the demi-god's power. Gendoi tracked down Cargog's closest descendant and used the connection to interweave Phianthros' spiritual essence to Calphaer Calgarin's soul. The result was an immeasurably powerful and twisted mortal mage. Calphaer served as Gendoi's first apprentice and most loyal follower for several years before attempting a campaign to conquer all of Seadale. Gendoi, the Soul Shaper The events with Calphaer were only an experiment for Gendoi. Regardless of his apprentice's defeat at the hands of Emira, Calphaer proved it was possible to absorb the powers of other gods. Gendoi became ambitious and set his sights on the Southern Earthfire, attempting to claim a sliver of the power of the goddess, Alilia, for himself. This event was known as the First Shattering, and was one of the most chaotic wars to be waged across Ilderon. Ficktier, the Shatterer of Nations After his defeat during the First Shattering, Gendoi silently began to plot his next moves. He hid in the Alyan forest attempting to pervert and absorb what magic force he could before he was eventually discovered by the adventurer Ficktier. Ficktier became Gendoi's second apprentice. The then fallen god taught Ficktier how to weave the energy of gods and mortals together, and shared his plans to claim Emira's remaining power as his own. Ficktier thought his vindictive master was too fixated on his vendetta with Emira to realize the power he discovered. Ficktier continued to improve upon Gendoi's soul magic until he discovered how to destroy the souls of mortals and turn them into mindless servants. Ficktier abandoned Gendoi's efforts to claim the power of other gods and created the Tierii. He created a small army of undead, and attacked the borders between Emiran and Serii's Dawn. Each death from his attacks added another soldier to his legions, and each soul absorbed empowered him, which allowed Ficktier to make his creations even stronger. Ficktier completely destroyed the country of Emiran, and drove the citizens of Serii's Dawn to the edge of annihilation. Ficktier's campaign was eventually stopped by Galesong's ascension into godhood. Olivia, the Lost Olivia was a Solserii living in lands that would eventually become Ardorserii during the Waking Era. She was captured by Ficktier's rebellion and had her soul ripped out. She and her sister, Elizabeth, became the first Terii vampires. After Galesong ascended and was able to strike down Ficktier, Olivia and Elizabeth were also some of the first Tierii to regain consciousness. Originally used as slaves in the fields of Ardor, Tierii proved to be far too dangerous to keep in the Sunserii nations and were exiled to work on Galken. Olivia lead a mutiny in the Warm Waters against Admiral Aelas Nael, who would later become Umia the Ascended Goddess of the Seas. Once Umia ascended she struck down Olivia, and delivered the Tierii to Galken where they would be held in the Heimsdale colonies. However, Olivia had not died. Instead she discovered Gendoi in the eastern lands of Lowlakes. She and the soul shaper developed a deadly way to blight the land using the Tierii. She and Gendoi went on to ravage half of the Kyic Empire and created their new vicious Tierii, and then used their new army to assault Heimsdale. Eventually Heimsdale was saved by Valerear's Ascendancy, and Olivia was lost to the texts of history. Andothor, Lord of Blight Andothor was a prominent Heimsdale General. After Olivia began her assault on Heimsdale, her enslaved sister, Elizabeth, seized the opportunity to break free of her captors and free her fellow Tierii people. Andothor became set on wiping the Tierii off the face of Ilderon. The General successfully fought a three front war beating back the Shatterer Olivia in the in the Clutch, fending off the Kyic Empire in the south, and hunting Elizabeth and her fleeing Tierii to the South. Rather than fighting a war against the decorated general, Olivia and Elizabeth conspired to save their people by assaulting Andothor directly. During an ambush at night, the two vampires captured the General and stole his soul turning him into a Tierii, then returned him to his nation. He still harbored his desire to completely destroy the Tierii, however, his country rejected him because of he was now a Tierii. Enraged, abandoned, and nowhere to go Andothor turned his rage towards humanity. He joined Olivia's campaign and discovered he possessed a lust for destruction, rather than a hatred of Tierii or humanity. Andothor ravaged Heimsdale, and set his sights on the continent of Seadale. Valerear's ascension ended Olivia's campaign, but Andothor continued to lead an undead faction of his own known as the Archblight which has yet to be completely destroyed to this day.